Data retention
Data retention is how long an organisation keeps the information it collects — including your AI chats — and what happens to it after. Good practice is to keep personal information only as long as needed, then delete or anonymise it.
In one line, for a 12-year-old
Data retention is how long a company keeps what you typed or uploaded.
An example
An AI service keeps deleted chats for 30 days for abuse checks, but chats you allowed for training may be kept far longer.
Why it matters to people
The longer data is kept, the more there is to leak or misuse. Check each AI tool's retention policy and settings, especially before sharing anything sensitive.